
Class. 
Book.. 



_£. 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



jFtom Pa00ion to Peace 



BOOKS BY JAMES ALLEN 

The Mastery of Destiny 

Above Life's Turmoil 

Byways of Blessedness 

From Poverty to Power 

All These Things Added 

The Life Triumphant 

Poems of Peace 

From Passion to Peace 

As a Man Thinketh 

Out from the Heart 

Through the Gate of Good 




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FROM 

PASSION TO PEACE 

OR 

€f>e $atfjtoap of tfje $ure 

BY 

JAMES ALLEN 

AUTHOR OF "AS A MAN THINKETH," a THE MASTERY 

OF DESTINY," "FROM POVERTY TO POWER," "BYWAYS 

OF BLESSEDNESS," &C. 

at 






lUeto tforft 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 



WD ^ 



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^c 




COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY JAMES ALLEN 



COMPOSITION AND ELECTROTYPE PLATES BY 
D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON 



<g/GI.A2655l7 



Amid the din and strife of 'men, 

The Call Divine I hear again ; 

Its telling is of things apart, 

Above the tumult of the heart. 

High o'er where sin's dark pathways wind 

Waits the ivise ivilling of the mind; 

Beyond strong Passion s guarded Gates, 

There Peace awaits — there Peace awaits. 



THE first three parts of this book, Pas- 
sion, Aspiration, and Temptation, repre- 
sent the common human life, with its pas- 
sion, pathos, and tragedy; the last three 
parts, Transcendence, Beatitude, and Peace, 
present the Divine Life — calm, wise, and 
beautiful — of the sage and Saviour. The 
middle part, Transmutation, is the tran- 
sitional stage between the two; it is the 
alchemic process linking the divine with 
the human life. Discipline, denial, and re- 
nunciation do not constitute the Divine 
State; they are only the means by which it 
is attained. The Divine Life is established 
in that Perfedt Knowledge which bestows 
Perfe6l Peace. James Allen 

Bryngoleu 

Ilfracombe, Devon. 
England 



Contents 

PASSION 

ASPIRATION 

TEMPTATION 

TRANSMUTATION 

TRANSCENDENCE 

BEATITUDE 

PEACE 



I 
8 

16 
*4 
33 
44 
5o 



from $a$$ion to $eace 

♦ ♦ 

♦ 

THE pathway of the saints and sages; 
the road of the wise and pure; the 
highway along which the Saviours have trod, 
and which all Saviours to come will also 
walk — such is the subjedt of this book; 
such is the high and holy theme which the 
author briefly expounds in these pages. 

Passion is the lowest level of human life. 
None can descend lower. In its chilling 
swamps and concealing darkness creep and 
crawl the creatures of its sunless world. Lust, 
hatred, covetousness, pride, vanity, greed, 
revenge, envy, spite, retaliation, slander, 
backbiting, lying, theft, deceit, treachery, 
cruelty, suspicion, jealousy — such are the 
brute forces and blind, unreasoning im- 
pulses that inhabit the underworld of pas- 
sion, and roam, devouring and devoured, 

[ « ] 



jTrom passion to Peace 

in the rank primeval jungles of the human 
mind. 

There also dwell the dark shapes of 
remorse and pain and suffering, and the 
drooping forms of grief and sorrow and 
lamentation. 

In this dark world the unwise live and 
die, not knowing the peace of purity, nor 
the joy of that Divine Light which forever 
shines above them, and for them, yet shines 
in vain so long as it falls on unseeing eyes 
which look not up, but are ever bent earth- 
ward — fleshward. 

But the wise look up. They are not sat- 
isfied with this passion-world, and they 
bend their steps towards the upper world 
of peace, the light and glory of which they 
behold, at first afar off, but nearer and with 
ever increasing splendor as they ascend. 

None can fall lower than passion, but all 
can rise higher. In that lowest place where 
further descent is impossible, all who move 
forward must ascend; and the ascending 



JFrom Partem to Peace 

pathway is always at hand, near, and easily 
accessible. It is the way of self-conquest, 
and he has already entered it who has be- 
gun to say "nay" to his selfishness, who 
has begun to discipline his desires, and to 
control and command the unruly elements 
of his mind. 

Passion is the arch-enemy of mankind, 
the slayer of happiness, the opposite and 
enemy of peace. From it proceeds all that 
defiles and destroys. It is the source of suf- 
fering, the maker of misery, and the pro- 
mulgator of mischief and disaster. 

The inner world of selfishness is rooted 
in ignorance, — ignorance of Divine Law, 
of Divine Goodness; ignorance of the Pure 
Way and the Peaceful Path. Passion is dark, 
and it thrives and flourishes in spiritual 
darkness. It cannot enter the regions of 
spiritual light. In the enlightened mind the 
darkness of ignorance is destroyed; in the 
pure heart there is no place for passion. 

Passion in all its forms is a mental thirst, 
[ 3] 



Jfrom Passion to Peace 

a fever, a torturing unrest. As a fire con- 
sumes a magnificent building, reducing it 
to a heap of unsightly ashes, so are men 
consumed by the flames of passions, and 
their deeds and works fall and perish. 

If one would find peace, he must come 
out of passion. The wise man subdues his 
passions, the foolish man is subdued by 
them. The seeker for wisdom begins by 
turning his back on folly. The lover of 
peace enters the way which leads thereto, 
and with every step he takes he leaves fur- 
ther below and behind him the dark dwell- 
ing-place of passion and despair. 

The first step towards the heights of wis- 
dom and peace is to understand the dark- 
ness and misery of selfishness, and when 
that is understood, the overcoming it — the 
coming out of it — will follow. 

Selfishness, or passion, not only subsists 

in the gross forms of greed and glaringly 

ungoverned conditions of mind; it informs 

also every hidden thought which is subtly 

[4] 



jFrom passion to peace 

conne&ed with the assumption and glori- 
fication of one's self; and it is most deceiv- 
ing and subtle when it prompts one to dwell 
upon the selfishness in others, to accuse 
them of it and to talk about it. The man 
who continually dwells upon the selfishness 
in others will not thus overcome his own 
selfishness. Not by accusing others do we 
come out of selfishness, but by purifying 
ourselves. The way from passion to peace 
is not by hurling painful charges against 
others, but by overcoming one's self. By 
eagerly striving to subdue the selfishness of 
others, we remain passion-bound; by pa- 
tiently overcoming our own selfishness, we 
ascend into freedom. He only who has con- 
quered himself can subdue others; and he 
subdues them, not by passion, but by love. 
The foolish man accuses others and justi- 
fies himself; but he who is becoming wise 
justifies others and accuses himself. The 
way from passion to peace is not in the 
outer world of people; it is in the inner 
[5 ] 



Jfrom Passion to peace 

world of thoughts; it does not consist in 
altering the deeds of others, it consists in 
perfecting one's own deeds. 

Frequently the man of passion is most 
eager to put others right; but the man of 
wisdom puts himself right. If one is anxious 
to reform the world, let him begin by re- 
forming himself. The reformation of self 
does not end with the elimination of the 
sensual elements only; that is its beginning. 
It ends only when every vain thought and 
selfish aim is overcome. Short of perfect 
purity and wisdom, there is still some form 
of self-slavery or folly which needs to be 
conquered. 

Passion is at the base of the strufture of 
life; peace is its crown and summit. Without 
passion to begin with, there would be no 
power to work with, and no achievement 
to end with. Passion represents power, but 
power misdiredled, power producing hurt 
instead of happiness. Its forces, while be- 
ing instruments of destru&ion in the hands 
[6] 



^\ 



jfrorn passion to peace 

of the foolish, are instruments of preserva- 
tion in the hands of the wise. When curbed 
and concentrated and beneficently directed, 
they represent working energy. Passion is 
the flaming sword which guards the gates 
of Paradise. It shuts out and destroys the 
foolish; it admits and preserves the wise. 

Fie is the foolish man who does not know 
the extent of his own ignorance; who is the 
slave of thoughts of self; who obeys the 
impulses of passion. He is the wise man 
who knows his own ignorance; who under- 
stands the emptiness of selfish thoughts; 
who masters the impulses of passion. 

The fool descends into deeper and deeper 
ignorance; the wise man ascends into higher 
and higher knowledge. The fool desires, 
and suffers, and dies. The wise man aspires, 
and rejoices, and lives. 

With mind intent on wisdom, and men- 
tal gaze raised upward, the spiritual warrior 
perceives the upward way, and fixes his at- 
tention upon the heights of Peace. 
[ 7 ] 



aspiration 

WITH the clear perception of one's 
own ignorance, comes the desire for 
enlightenment, and thus in the heart is born 
Aspiration, the rapture of the saints. 

On the wings of aspiration man rises 
from earth to heaven, from ignorance to 
knowledge, from the under darkness to the 
upper light. Without it he remains a gro- 
velling animal, earthly, sensual, unenlight- 
ened, and uninspired. 

Aspiration is the longing for heavenly 
things — for righteousness, compassion, pu- 
rity, love — as distinguished from desire, 
which is the longing for earthly things, — 
for selfish possessions, personal dominance, 
low pleasures, and sensual gratifications. 

As a bird deprived of its wings cannot 
soar, so a man without aspiration cannot 
rise above his surroundings and become 
master of his animal inclinations. He is the 
slave of passions, is subjedl to others, and 
C »] 



JFrom Passion to peace 

is carried hither and thither by the chan- 
ging current of events. 

For one to begin to aspire means that 
he is dissatisfied with his low estate, and is 
aiming at a higher condition. It is a sure 
sign that he is roused out of his lethargic 
sleep of animality, and has become con- 
scious of nobler attainments and a fuller life. 

Aspiration makes all things possible. It 
opens the way to advancement. Even the 
highest state of perfection conceivable it 
brings near and makes real and possible; 
for that which can be conceived can be 
achieved. 

Aspiration is the twin angel to inspira- 
tion. It unlocks the gates of joy. Singing 
accompanies soaring. Music, poetry, pro- 
phecy, and all high and holy instruments, 
are at last placed in the hands of him whose 
aspirations flag not, whose spirit does not 
fail. 

So long as animal conditions taste sweet 
to a man, he cannot aspire; he is so far 
[ 9 ] 



j?rom passion to peace 

satisfied; but when their sweetness turns to 
bitterness, then in his sorrow he thinks of 
nobler things. When he is deprived of 
earthly joy, he aspires to the joy which is 
heavenly. It is when impurity turns to suf- 
fering that purity is sought. Truly aspira- 
tion rises, phoenix-like, from the dead ashes 
of repentance, but on its powerful pinions 
man can reach the heaven of heavens. 

The man of aspiration has entered the 
way which ends in peace; and surely he will 
reach that end if he stays not nor turns 
back. If he constantly renews his mind with 
glimpses of the heavenly vision, he will 
reach the heavenly state. 

Man attains in the measure that he as- 
pires. His longing to be is the gauge of 
what he can be. To fix the mind is to fore- 
ordain the achievement. As man can expe- 
rience and know all low things, so he can 
experience and know all high things. As 
he has become human, so he can become 
divine. The turning of the mind in high 

[ i°] 



jFrom passion to peace 

and divine dire&ions is the sole and need- 
ful task. 

What is impurity but the impure thoughts 
of the thinker? What is purity but the pure 
thoughts of the thinker? One man does not 
do the thinking of another. Each man is 
pure or impure of himself alone. 

If a man thinks, "It is through others, 
or circumstances, or heredity that I am im- 
pure," how can he hope to overcome his 
errors? Such a thought will check all holy 
aspirations, and bind him to the slavery 
of passion. 

When a man fully perceives that his er- 
rors and impurities are his own, that they 
are generated and fostered by himself, that 
he alone is responsible for them, then he 
will aspire to overcome them, the way of 
attainment will be opened up to him, and he 
will see whence and whither he is travelling. 

The man of passion sees no straight path 
before him, and behind him all is fog and 
gloom. He seizes the pleasure of the mo- 

[ " i 



jTrom Ipassion to locate 

ment, and does not strive for understand- 
ing or think of wisdom. His way is con- 
fused, turbulent, troubled, and his heart is 
far from peace. 

The man of aspiration sees before him 
the pathway up the heavenly heights, and 
behind him are the circuitous routes of 
passion up which he has hitherto blindly 
groped. Striving for understanding, and his 
mind set on wisdom, his way is clear, and 
his heart already experiences a foretaste of 
the final peace. 

Men of passion strive mightily to achieve 
little things, — things which speedily perish, 
and, in the place where they were, leave 
nothing to be remembered. 

Men of aspiration strive with equal might 
to achieve great things — things of virtue, 
of knowledge, of wisdom, which do not 
perish, but stand as monuments of inspi- 
ration for the uplifting of mankind. 

As the merchant achieves worldly suc- 
cess by persistent exertion, so the saint 

[ «] 



j?rom passion to Peace 

achieves spiritual success by aspiration and 
endeavor. One becomes a merchant, the 
other a saint, by the particular dire&ion in 
which his mental energy is guided. 

When the rapture of aspiration touches 
the mind, it at once refines it, and the dross 
of its impurities begins to fall away; yea, 
while aspiration holds the mind, no impu- 
rity can enter it, for the impure and the pure 
cannot at the same moment occupy the 
thought. But the effort of aspiration is at 
first spasmodic and short-lived. The mind 
falls back into its habitual error, and must 
be constantly renewed. 

The lover of the pure life renews his mind 
daily with the invigorating glow of aspira- 
tion. He rises early, and fortifies his mind 
with strong thoughts and strenuous endea- 
vor. He knows that the mind is of such 
a nature that it cannot remain for a moment 
unoccupied, and that if it is not held and 
guided by high thoughts and pure aspira- 
tions, it will assuredly be enslaved and mis- 

c 13] 



jTtom passion to Peace 

guided by low thoughts and base desires. 

Aspiration can be fed, fostered, and 
strengthened by daily habit, just as is de- 
sire. It can be sought, and admitted into 
the mind as a divine guide, or it can be neg- 
lefted and shut out. To retire for a short 
time each day to some quiet spot, prefer- 
ably in the open air, and there call up the 
energies of the mind in surging waves of 
holy rapture, is to prepare the mind for 
great spiritual vidories and destinies of di- 
vine import; for such rapture is the prepa- 
ration for wisdom and the prelude to peace. 
Before the mind can contemplate pure 
things it must be lifted up to them, it must 
rise above impure things; and aspiration is 
the instrument by which this is accom- 
plished. By its aid the mind soars swiftly 
and surely into heavenly places, and begins 
to experience divine things; begins to ac- 
cumulate wisdom, and to learn to guide it- 
self by an ever increasing measure of the 
divine light of pure knowledge. ■ 
[ 14] 



jFrom Passion to peace 

To thirst for righteousness; to hunger 
for the pure life; to rise in holy rapture on 
the wings of angelic aspiration — this is the 
right road to wisdom; this is the right 
striving for peace; this is the right begin- 
ning of the way divine. 



[ 15] 



Cemptation 

ASPIRATION can carry a man into 
-/ A. heaven, but to remain there he must 
learn to conform his entire mind to the 
heavenly conditions: to this end temptation 
works. 

Temptation is the reversion, in thought, 
from purity to passion. It is a going back 
from aspiration to desire. It threatens as- 
piration until the point is reached where 
desire is quenched in the waters of pure 
knowledge and calm thought. In the early 
stages of aspiration, temptation is subtle and 
powerful, and is regarded as an enemy; but 
it is only an enemy in the sense that the 
tempted one is his own enemy. In the sense 
that it is the revealer of weakness and im- 
purity, it is a friend, a necessary fadlor in 
spiritual training. It is, indeed, an accom- 
paniment of the effort to overcome evil and 
apprehend good. To be successfully con- 
quered, the evil in a man must come to the 
[ 16 ] 



jFrom passion to Peace 

surface and present itself, and it is in temp- 
tation that the evil hidden in the heart 
stands revealed and exposed. 

That which temptation appeals to and 
arouses is unconquered desire, and tempta- 
tion will again and again assail and subdue 
a man until he has lifted himself above the 
lusting impulses. Temptation is an appeal 
to the impure. That which is pure cannot 
be subject to temptation. 

Temptation waylays the man of aspira- 
tion until he touches the region of the di- 
vine consciousness, and beyond that bor- 
der temptation cannot follow him. It is when 
a man begins to aspire that he begins to be 
tempted. Aspiration rouses up all the latent 
good and evil, in order that the man may 
be fully revealed to himself, for a man can- 
not overcome himself unless he fully knows 
himself. It can scarcely be said of the merely 
animal man that he is tempted, for the very 
presence of temptation means that there is 
a striving for a purer state. Animal desire 

[ ^7 ] 



jfrom passion to Peace 

and gratification is the normal condition of 
the man who has not yet risen into aspira- 
tion; he wishes for nothing more, nothing 
better, than his sensual enjoyments, and is, 
for the present, satisfied. Such a man cannot 
be tempted to fall, for he has not yet risen. 
The presence of aspiration signifies that 
a man has taken one step, at least, upward, 
and is therefore capable of being drawn 
back, and this backward attraction is called 
temptation. The allurements of temptation 
subsist in the impure thoughts and down- 
ward desires of the heart. The objedt of 
temptation is powerless to attradt when the 
heart no longer lusts for it. The stronghold 
of temptation is within a man, not with- 
out; and until a man realizes this, the pe- 
riod of temptation will be protra&ed. While 
a man continues to run away from outward 
objedls, under the delusion that temptation 
subsists entirely in them, and does not at- 
tack and purge away his impure imagin- 
ings, his temptations will increase, and his 
[ 18 ] 



jTrom Pa09ion to peace 

falls will be many and grievous. When a 
man clearly perceives that the evil is within, 
and not without, then his progress will be 
rapid, his temptations will decrease, and the 
final overcoming of all temptation will be 
well within the range of his spiritual vision. 

Temptation is torment. It is not an 
abiding condition, but is a passage from a 
lower condition to a higher. The fulness 
and perfection of life is bliss, not torment. 
Temptation accompanies weakness and de- 
feat, but a man is destined for strength and 
vi&ory. The presence of torment is the sig- 
nal to rise and conquer. The man of per- 
sistent and ever renewed aspiration does 
not allow himself to think that temptation 
cannot be overcome. He is determined to 
be master of himself. Resignation to evil is 
an acknowledgment of defeat. It signifies 
that the battle against self is abandoned; 
that good is denied; that evil is made 
supreme. 

As the energetic man of business is not 
[ *9 ] 



^rom passion to peace 

daunted by difficulties, but studies how to 
overcome them, so the man of ceaseless as- 
piration is not crushed into submission by 
temptations, but meditates how he may 
fortify his mind; for the tempter is like a 
coward, he only creeps in at weak and un- 
guarded points. 

The tempted one should study thought- 
fully the nature and meaning of tempta- 
tion, for until it is known it cannot be over- 
come. A wise general, before attacking the 
opposing force, studies the ta&ics of his 
enemy; so he who is to overcome tempta- 
tion must understand how it arises in his 
own darkness and error, and must study, 
by introspedtion and meditation, how to 
disperse the darkness and supplant error 
by truth. 

The stronger a man's passions, the fiercer 
will be his temptations; the deeper his self- 
ishness, the more subtle his temptations; 
the more pronounced his vanity, the more 
flattering and deceptive his temptations. 

[ 2 °] 



Jfrom pa&sion to Peace 

A man must know himself if he is to 
know truth. He must not shrink from any 
revelation which will expose his error; on 
the contrary, he must welcome such re- 
velations as aids to that self-knowledge 
which is the handmaid of self-conquest. 

The man who cannot endure to have his 
errors and shortcomings brought to the 
surface and made known, but tries to hide 
them, is unfit to walk the highway of truth. 
He is not properly equipped to battle with 
and overcome temptation. He who cannot 
fearlessly face his lower nature cannot climb 
the rugged heights of renunciation. 

Let the tempted one know this: that 
he himself is both tempter and tempted; 
that all his enemies are within; that the flat- 
terers which seduce, the taunts which stab, 
and the flames which burn, all spring from 
that inner region of ignorance and error in 
which he has hitherto lived; and knowing 
this, let him be assured of complete vidory 
over evil. When he is sorely tempted, let 

[ 21 ] 



jTrom passion to peace 

him not mourn, therefore, but let him re- 
joice in that his strength is tried and his 
weakness exposed. For he who truly knows 
and humbly acknowledges his weakness 
will not be slow in setting about the acqui- 
sition of strength. 

Foolish men blame others for their lapses 
and sins, but let the truth-lover blame 
only himself. Let him acknowledge his com- 
plete responsibility for his own condudt, 
and not say, when he falls, this thing, or 
such and such circumstance, or that man, 
was to blame ; for the most which others can 
do is to afford an opportunity for our own 
good or evil to manifest itself; they cannot 
make us good or evil. 

Temptation is at first sore, grievous, and 
hard to be borne, and subtle and persistent 
is the assailant; but if the tempted one is 
firm and courageous, and does not give way, 
he will gradually subdue his spiritual enemy, 
and will finally triumph in the knowledge 
of good. 

[ « ] 



jFrom pa$0ion to Peace 

The adverse one is compounded of a 
man's own lust and selfishness and pride, 
and when these are put away, evil is seen 
to be as naught, and good is revealed in 
all-vi&orious splendor. 



[ 2 3 ] 



Cransmutatton 

MIDWAY between the hell of Pas- 
sion and the heaven of Peace is the 
purgatory of Transmutation, — not a specu- 
lative purgatory beyond the grave, but a 
real purgatory in the human heart. In its 
separating and purifying fire the base metal 
of error is sifted away, and only the clari- 
fied gold of truth remains. 

When temptation has culminated in sor- 
row and deep perplexity, then the tempted 
one, strenuously striving for deliverance, 
finds that his thraldom is entirely from him- 
self, and that instead of fighting against 
outer circumstances, he must alter inner 
conditions. The fight against outer things 
is necessary at the commencement. It is the 
only course which can be adopted at the 
first, because of the prevailing ignorance of 
mental causation, but it never, of itself, 
brings about emancipation. What it does 
bring about is the knowledge of the mental 

[ H] 



jfrom passion to peace 

cause of temptation ; and the knowledge of the 
mental cause of temptation leads to the 
transmutation of thought, and the trans- 
mutation of thought leads to deliverance 
from the bondage of error. 

The preliminary fighting is a necessary- 
stage in spiritual development, as the cry- 
ing and kicking of a helpless babe is neces- 
sary to its growth; but as the crying and 
kicking is not needed beyond the infant 
stage, so the fierce struggling with, and fall- 
ing under, temptation ends when the know- 
ledge of mental transmutation is acquired. 

The truly wise man, he who is enlight- 
ened concerning the source and cause of 
temptation, does not fight against outward 
allurements, he abandons all desire for them; 
they thus cease to be allurements^ and the 
power of temptation is destroyed at its 
source. But this abandonment of unholy 
desire is not a final process, it is the begin- 
ning of a regenerative and transforming 
power which, patiently employed, leads 
[ 2 5 ] 



JFtora passion to Peace 

man to the clear and cloudless heights of 
spiritual enlightenment. 

Spiritual transmutation consists in an 
entire reversal of the ordinary self-seeking 
attitude of mind towards men and things, 
and this reversal brings about an entirely 
new set of experiences. Thus the desire for 
a certain pleasure is abandoned, cut off at 
its source, and not allowed to have any 
place in the consciousness; but the mental 
force which that desire represented is not 
annihilated, it is transferred to a higher re- 
gion of thought, transmuted into a purer 
form of energy. The law of conservation 
of energy obtains universally in mind as in 
matter, and the force shut off in lower 
direftions is liberated in higher realms of 
spiritual activity. 

Along the Saintly Way towards the di- 
vine life, the midway region of Transmu- 
tation is the Country of Sacrifice, it is the 
Plain of Renunciation. Old passions, old 
desires, old ambitions and thoughts, are cast 

[ 26] 



jFrom Passion to peace 

away and abandoned, but only to reappear 
in some more beautiful, more permanent, 
more eternally satisfying form. As valuable 
jewels, long guarded and cherished, are 
thrown tearfully into the melting-pot, yet 
are remoulded into new and more perfe6l 
adornments, so the spiritual alchemist, at 
first loth to part company with long-cher- 
ished thoughts and habits, at last gives 
them up, to discover, a little later, to his 
joy, that they have come back to him in 
the form of new faculties, rarer powers, and 
purer joys, — spiritual jewels newly bur- 
nished, beautiful and resplendent. 

In transmuting his mind from evil to 
good, a man comes to distinguish more 
and more clearly between error and Truth, 
and so distinguishing, he ceases to be 
swayed and prompted by outward things, 
and by the adlions and attitudes of others; 
he ads from his knowledge of truth. First 
acknowledging his errors, and then con- 
fronting them with a searching mind and a 

[ 27 ] 



jTroin passion to peace 

humble heart, he subdues, conquers, and 
transmutes them. 

The early stage of transmutation is pain- 
ful but brief, for the pain is soon trans- 
formed into pure spiritual joy, the brevity 
of the pain being measured by the intelli- 
gence and energy with which the process 
is pursued. 

While a man thinks that the cause of his 
pain is in the attitude of others, he will not 
pass beyond it, but when he perceives that 
its cause is in himself, then he will pass be- 
yond it into joy. 

The unenlightened man allows himself 
to be disturbed, wounded, and overthrown 
by what he regards as the wrong attitude 
of others towards him; this is because the 
same wrong attitude is in himself. He, in- 
deed, metes out to them, in return, the 
same aftions, regarding as right in himself 
that which is wrong in others. Slander is 
given for slander, hatred for hatred, anger 
for anger. This is the adion and reaftion 

[ *« ] 



jFtom pagsion to Peace 

of evil; it is the clash of selfishness with 
selfishness. It is only the self, or selfish 
elements, within a man that can be aroused 
by the evil in another; the Truth, or di- 
vine characteristics, in a man cannot be 
approached by that evil, much less can it 
be disturbed and overthrown by it. 

It is the conversion, or complete reversal, 
of this self into Truth that constitutes 
Transmutation. The enlightened man has 
abandoned the delusion that the evil in 
others has power to hurt and subdue him, 
and he has grasped the profound truth that 
he is only overthrown by the evil in him- 
self. He therefore ceases to blame others 
for his sins and sufferings, and applies him- 
self to purifying his own heart. In this re- 
versal of his mental attitude, he transmutes 
the lower selfish forces into the higher 
moral attributes. The base ore of error is 
cast into the fire of sacrifice, and there 
comes forth the pure gold of Truth. 

Such a man stands firm and unmoved 

[ 29 ] 



Jrrom IPassion to IPcace 

when assailed by outward things. He is 
self's master, not its slave. He has ceased 
to identify himself with the impulses of pas- 
sion, and has identified himself with Truth. 
He has overcome evil, and has become 
merged in Good. He knows both error 
and Truth, and has abandoned error and 
brought himself into harmony with Truth. 
He returns good for evil. The more he is 
assailed by evil from without, the greater 
is his opportunity of manifesting the good 
from within. That which supremely differ- 
entiates the fool from the wise man is this, 
— that the fool meets passion with passion, 
hatred with hatred, and returns evil for 
evil ; whereas the wise man meets passion 
with peace, hatred with love, and returns 
good for evil. 

Men infli<5t sufferings upon themselves 
through the aftive instrumentality of their 
own unpurified nature. They rise into per- 
fe<5t peace in the measure that they purify 
their hearts. The mental energy which men 

[ 30 ] 



jfrom Passion to peace 

waste in the pursuance of dark passions is 
all-sufficient to enable them to reach the 
highest wisdom when it is turned in the 
right direction. As water, when transmuted 
into steam, becomes a new, more definite 
and wide-reaching power, so passion, when 
transmuted into intelle&ual and moral 
force, becomes a new life, a new power for 
the accompiishment of high and unfailing 
purposes. 

Mental forces, like molecular, have their 
opposite poles or modes of a&ion, and 
where the negative pole is, there also is the 
positive. Where ignorance is, wisdom is 
possible; where passion abounds, peace 
awaits; where there is much suffering, much 
bliss is near. Sorrow is the negation of joy; 
sin is the opposite of purity; evil is the de- 
nial of good. Where there is an opposite, 
there is that which is opposed. The adverse 
evil, in its denial of the good, testifies to 
its presence. The one thing needful, there- 
fore, is the turning round from the nega- 

[31 ] 



jTtom passion to Peace 

rive to the positive; the conversion of the 
heart from impure desires to pure aspira- 
tions; the transmutation of the passional 
forces into moral powers. 

The wise purify their thoughts; they 
turn from bad deeds, and do good deeds; 
they put error behind them, and approach 
Truth. Thus do they rise above the allure- 
ments of sin, above the torments of temp- 
tation, above the dark world of sorrow, 
and enter the Divine Consciousness, the 
Transcendent Life. 



[•3* ] 



CranscenDence 

WHEN a man passes from the dark 
stage of temptation to the more 
enlightened stage of transmutation, he has 
become a saint; namely, one who perceives 
the need of self-purification, who under- 
stands the way of self-purification, and who 
has entered that way and is engaged in per- 
fecting himself. But there comes a time in 
the process of transmutation when, with the 
decrease of evil and the accumulation of 
good, there dawns in the mind a new vi- 
sion, a new consciousness, a new man. And 
when this is reached, the saint has become 
a sage; he has passed from the human life 
to the divine life. He is "born again," and 
there begins for him a new round of expe- 
riences; he wields a new power; a new uni- 
verse opens out before his spiritual gaze. 
This is the stage of Transcendence ; this 
I call the Transcendent Life. 

When there is no more consciousness 
[33 ] 



jTrom Passion to peace 

of sin; when anxiety and doubt, and grief 
and sorrow, are ended; when lust and en- 
mity, and anger and envy, no more possess 
the thoughts; when there remains in the 
mind no vestige of blame towards others 
for one's own condition, and when all con- 
ditions are seen to be good because the re- 
sult of causes, so that no event can afflid 
the mind, then Transcendence is attained; 
then the limited human personality is out- 
grown, and the divine life is known; evil 
is transcended, and Good is all-in-all. 

The divine consciousness is not an in- 
tensification of the human, it is a new form 
of consciousness. It springs from the old, 
but it is not a continuance of it. Born of 
the lower life of sin and sorrow, after a pe- 
riod of painful travail, it yet transcends that 
life, and has no part in it, as the perfect 
flower transcends the seed from which it 
sprang. 

As passion is the keynote of the self-life, 
so serenity is the keynote of the transcen- 
[ 34] 



jTrom Passion to Peace 

dent life. Rising into it, man is lifted above 
inharmony and disturbance. When Perfedt 
Good is realized and known, not as an 
opinion or an idea, but as an experience, 
a possession, then calm vision is acquired, 
and tranquil joy abides through all vicissi- 
tudes. The transcendent life is ruled, not 
by passions, but by principles. It is founded, 
not upon fleeting impulses, but upon abid- 
ing laws. In its clear atmosphere, the or- 
derly sequence of all things is revealed, so 
that there is seen to be no room for sorrow, 
anxiety, or regret. While men are involved 
in the passions of self, they load themselves 
with cares, and trouble over many things; 
and more than all else do they trouble over 
their own little, burdened, pain-stricken 
personality, being anxious for its fleeting 
pleasures, for its protection and preserva- 
tion, and for its eternal safety and continu- 
ance. Now in the life that is wise and good 
all this is transcended. Personal interests 
are replaced by universal purposes, and all 
[35 ] 



Jftom pas0ion to Peace 

cares, troubles, and anxieties concerning the 
pleasure and fate of the personality are dis- 
pelled like the feverish dreams of a night. 

Passion is blind and ignorant; it sees 
and knows only its own gratification. Self 
recognizes no law; its objed is to get and 
to enjoy. The getting is a graduated scale 
varying from sensual greed, through many 
subtle vanities, up to the desire for a per- 
sonal heaven or personal immortality, but 
it is self still; it is the old sensual craving 
coming out again in a more subtle and de- 
ceptive form; it is the longing for some per- 
sonal delight, along with its accompanying 
dreadlest that delight should be lostforever. 

In the transcendent state desire and 
dread are ended; and the thirst for gain and 
the fear of loss are things that are no more; 
for where the universal order is seen, uni- 
versal good is seen; and where perennial 
joy in that good is a normal condition, what 
is there left to desire, what remains to be 
feared? 

[ 36 ] 



jFrom passion to Peace 

He who has brought his entire nature in- 
to conformity and harmony with the law of 
righteousness, who has made his thoughts 
pure, and his deeds blameless, he it is who 
has entered into liberty. He has transcended 
darkness and mortality, and has passed into 
light and immortality. For the transcendent 
state is at first a higher order of morality, 
then a new form of perception, and at last 
a comprehensive understanding of the uni- 
versal moral causation. And this morality, 
this vision, and this understanding consti- 
tute the new consciousness, the divine life. 

The transcendent man is he who is above 
and beyond the dominion of self; he has 
transcended evil, and lives in the practice 
and knowledge of good. He is like a man 
who, having long looked upon the world 
with darkened eyes, is now restored to sight, 
and sees things as they are. 

Evil is an experience, and not a power. 
If it were an independent power in the uni- 
verse, it could not be transcended by any 
[ 37 ] 



Jfrom passion to Peace 

being. But though not real as a power, it 
is real as a condition, an experience, for all 
experience is of the nature of reality. It is 
a state of ignorance, of undevelopment, and 
as such it recedes and disappears before the 
light of knowledge, as the intelle6hial ig- 
norance of the child vanishes before the 
gradually accumulating learning, or as dark- 
ness dissolves before the rising light. 

The painful experiences of evil pass away 
as the new experiences of good enter into 
and possess the field of consciousness. And 
what are the new experiences of good? They 
are many and beautiful — such as the joy- 
ful knowledge of freedom from sin ; the 
absence of remorse; deliverance from all 
the torments of temptation; ineffable joy 
in conditions and circumstances which for- 
merly caused deep afflidtion; impervious- 
ness to hurt by the adtions of others; great 
patience and sweetness of character; sere- 
nity of mind under all circumstances; eman- 
cipation from doubt, fear, and anxiety ; free- 

[ 38 ] 



jFrom passion to peace 

dom from all dislike, envy, and enmity, 
with the power to feel and adl kindly towards 
those who see fit to constitute themselves 
one's enemies or opponents; the divine 
power to give blessings for curses, and to 
return good for evil ; a deep knowledge of 
the human heart, with a perception of its 
fundamental goodness; insight into the law 
of moral causation and the mental evolu- 
tion of beings, with a prophetic foresight 
of the sublime good that awaits humanity; 
and above all, a glad rejoicing in the limi- 
tation and impotency of evil, and in the 
eternal supremacy and power of good. All 
these, and the calm, strong, far-reaching life 
that these imply and contain, are the rich 
experiences of the transcendent man, along 
with all the new and varied resources, the 
vast powers, the quickened abilities, and 
enlarged capacities that spring to life in the 
new consciousness. 

Transcendence is transcendent virtue. 
Evil and good cannot dwell together. Evil 
[ 39 ] 



jTrom l^assion to Peace 

must be abandoned, left behind and tran- 
scended, before good is grasped and known, 
and when good i§ praftised and fully com- 
prehended, then all the afflictions of the 
mind are at an end, for that which is 
accompanied with pain and sorrow in the 
consciousness of evil is not so accompanied 
in the consciousness of good. Whatsoever 
happens to the good man cannot cause him 
perplexity or sorrow, for he knows its cause 
and issue, knows the good which it is or- 
dained to accomplish in himself, and so his 
mind remains happy and serene. Though 
the body of the good man be bound, his 
mind is free; though it be wounded and in 
pain, joy and peace abide within his heart. 
A spiritual teacher had a pupil who was 
apt and earnest. After several years of learn- 
ing and practice the pupil one day pro- 
pounded a question which his master could 
not answer. After days of deep medita- 
tion, the master said to his pupil: "I can- 
not answer the question which you have 

[40 1 



JFtom passion to Peace 

asked; have you any solution to offer?" 
Whereupon the pupil formulated a reply 
to the question which he had propounded; 
and the master said to him: "You have 
answered that which I could not, and hence- 
forth nor I nor any man can instruct you, 
for now you are indeed instru&ed by truth. 
You have soared, like the kingly eagle, 
where no man can follow. Your work is now 
to instruct others. You are no longer the 
pupil, you have become the master." 

In looking back on the self-life which he 
has transcended, the divinely enlightened 
man sees that all the afflidions of that life 
were his schoolmasters teaching him, and 
leading him upward, and that in the mea- 
sure that he penetrated their meaning, and 
lifted himself above them, they departed 
from him. Their mission to teach him hav- 
ing ended, they left him triumphant master 
of the field; for the lower cannot teach the 
higher; ignorance cannot instruct wisdom; 
evil cannot enlighten good; nor can the 

[ 41 ] 



jTtom IPassion to Peace 

pupil set lessons for the master. That which 
is transcended cannot reach up to that which 
transcends. Evil can only teach in its own 
sphere, where it is regarded as a master; 
in the sphere of good it has no place, no 
authority. 

The strong traveller on the highroad of 
truth knows no such thing as resignation 
to evil; he knows only obedience to good. 
He who submits to evil, saying, "Sin can- 
not be overcome, and evil must be borne," 
thereby acknowledges that evil is his mas- 
ter; and not his master to instruct him, but 
to bind and oppress him. The lover of 
good cannot also be a lover of evil, nor can 
he, for one moment, admit its ascendency. 
He elevates and glorifies good, not evil. 
He loves light, not darkness. When a man 
makes truth his master, he abandons error; 
and as he transcends error, he becomes more 
like his master, until at last he becomes 
one with truth, teaching it, as a master, by 
his acftions, and reflecting it in his life. 

[42 ] 



Jfrom Partem to peace 

Transcendence is not an abnormal con- 
dition; it belongs to the orderly process of 
evolution; and though, as yet, few have 
reached it, all will come into it in the course 
of the ages. And he who ascends into it, 
sins no more, sorrows no more, and is no 
more troubled; good are his thoughts, good 
are his adtions, and good is the tranquil 
tenor of his way. He has conquered self, 
and has submitted to truth; he has mastered 
evil, and has comprehended good. Hence- 
forth nor men nor books can instruct him, 
for he is instructed by the Supreme Good, 
even the spirit of truth. 



[43 ] 



IBeatituDe 

WHEN divine good is practised, life 
is bliss. Bliss is the normal condi- 
tion of the good man; and those outer as- 
saults, harassments, and persecutions which 
bring such sufferings to others, only serve 
to heighten his happiness, for they cause 
the deep fountain of good within him to 
well up in greater abundance. 

To have transcendent virtue is to enjoy 
transcendent felicity. The beatific blessed- 
ness which Jesus holds out is promised to 
those having the beatific virtues — to the 
merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, 
and so on. The higher virtue does not 
merely and only lead to happiness, it is 
happiness. It is impossible for a man of 
transcendent virtue to be unhappy. The 
cause of unhappiness must be sought and 
found in the self-loving elements, and not 
in the self-sacrificing qualities. A man may 
have virtue, and be unhappy, but not so 
[44] 



jfrom passion to Peace 

if he have divine virtue. Human virtue is 
mingled with self, and therefore with sor- 
row; but from divine virtue every taint of 
self has been purged away, and with it every 
vestige of misery. One comparison will suf- 
fice to illustrate this: a man may have 
the courage of a lion in attack and self-de- 
fence (such courage being a human virtue), 
but he will not thereby be rendered su- 
premely happy; but he whose courage is 
of that divine kind which enables him to 
transcend both attack and defence, and to 
remain mild, serene, and lovable under at- 
tack, such a man will thereby be rendered 
supremely happy. Moreover, his assailant 
will be rendered more happy, in that his 
more powerful good will overcome and cast 
out the fierce and unhappy evil of the other. 

The acquisition of human virtue is a 
great step towards truth; but the divine 
way transcends it, — truth lies upward and 
beyond. 

Doing good in order to gain a personal 
[ 45 ] 



jTrom Ipassion to jpcace 

heaven or personal immortality is human 
virtue, but it is not unmixed with self, and 
not emancipated from sorrow. In the tran- 
scendent virtues all is good, and good is 
all, and there is no personal or ulterior aim. 
Human virtue is imperfedt; it is mixed with 
the baser, selfish elements, and needs to be 
transmuted. Divine virtue is unblemished, 
pure ; it is complete and perfedt in itself. 

And what are the transcendent virtues 
that embody all felicity? They are: 

Impartiality ; the seeing so deeply into 
the human heart, and into human adtions, 
that it becomes impossible to take sides with 
one man or one party against another, and 
therefore the power to be perfectly just. 

Unlimited Kindness towards all men and 
all creatures, whether enemies or friends. 

Perfeft Patience at all times, in all cir- 
cumstances, and under the severest trials. 

Profound Humility ; the total abnegation 
of self; the judging of one's own adions 
as though they were the aftions of another. 

[46 ] 



jFtom Pa00ion to IPeace 

Stainless Purity of mind and deed. Free- 
dom from all evil thoughts and impure 
imaginings. 

Unbroken Calmness of mind, even in the 
midst of outward strife, or surrounded by 
the turmoil of many vicissitudes. 

Abiding Goodness of heart; impervious- 
ness to evil; returning good for evil. 

Compassion; deep pity for all creatures 
and beings in their sufferings. Shielding the 
weak and helpless; and protecting, out of 
pity, even one's enemies from injury and 
slander. 

Abounding Love toward all living things; 
rejoicing with the happy and successful, 
and sympathizing with the sorrowing and 
defeated. 

Perfect Peace toward all things. Being 
at peace with all the world. A profound 
reconciliation to the Divine Order of the 
universe. 

Such are the virtues that transcend both 
vice and virtue. They include all that vir- 
[47 ] 



jTrom Passion to Peace 

tue embodies, while going beyond it into 
divine truth. They are the fruits of innu- 
merable efforts to achieve; the glorious gifts 
of him that overcomes; they constitute the 
ten-jewelled crown prepared for the calm 
brow of him who has conquered himself. 
With these majestic virtues is the mind of 
the sage adorned. By them he is eternally 
shielded from sin and sorrow, from harm 
and hurt, from trouble and turmoil. In them 
he abides in a happiness, a blessedness, a 
bliss, so pure and tranquil, so deep and high, 
so far transcending all the fleeting excite- 
ments of self, as to be unknown and incom- 
prehensible to the self-seeking conscious- 
ness. 

The sage has conquered passion, and has 
come to lasting peace. As the mighty moun- 
tain remains unmoved by the turbulent, 
ocean that beats round its base, so the mind 
of the sage, towering in lofty virtue, remains 
unshaken by the tempests of passion which 
beat unceasingly upon the shores of life. 

[48 ] 



jfrom Passion to Peace 

Good and wise, he is evermore happy and 
serene; transcendently virtuous, he lives in 
beatific bliss. 



[49] 



Peace 

WHERE passion is, peace is not; 
where peace is, passion is not. To 
know this is to master the first letter in the 
divine language of perfect deeds; for to 
know that passion and peace cannot dwell 
together is to be well prepared to renounce 
the lesser and embrace the greater. 

Men pray for peace, yet cling to pas- 
sion; they foster strife, yet pray for heavenly 
rest. This is ignorance, profound spiritual 
ignorance; it is not to know the first letter 
in the alphabet of things divine. 

Hatred and love, strife and peace, cannot 
dwell together in the same heart. Where 
one is admitted as a welcome guest, the 
other will be turned away as an unwelcome 
stranger. He who despises another will be 
despised by others; he who opposes his 
fellow-man will himself be resisted. He 
should not be surprised, and mourn, that 
men are divided. He should know that he 
[ 50] 



Jfrom passion to peace 

is propagating strife. He should understand 
his lack of peace. 

He is brave who conquers another; but 
he who conquers himself is supremely no- 
ble. He who is vidorious over another may 
in turn be defeated; but he who overcomes 
himself will never be subdued. 

By the way of self-conquest is the Per- 
fect Peace achieved. Man cannot under- 
stand it, cannot approach it, until he sees 
the supreme necessity of turning away from 
the fierce fighting of things without, and 
entering upon the noble warfare against 
evils within. He is already on the Saintly 
Way who has realized that the enemy of 
the world is within, and not without; that 
his own ungoverned thoughts are the 
source of confusion and strife; that his own 
unchastened desires are the violaters of his 
peace, and of the peace of the world. 

If a man has conquered lust and anger, 
hatred and pride, selfishness and greed, he 
has conquered the world ; he has slain the 

[51 1 



jTtom Passion to Peace 

enemies of peace, and peace remains with 
him. 

Peace does not fight; is not a partisan; 
has no blatant voice. The triumph of peace 
is an unassailable silence. 

He who is overcome by force is not 
thereby overcome in his heart; he may be 
a greater enemy than before; but he who is 
overcome by the spirit of peace is thereby 
changed at heart. He that was an enemy 
has become a friend. Force and strife work 
upon the passions and fears, but love and 
peace reach and reform the heart. 

The pure-hearted and wise have peace 
in their hearts; it enters into their a&ions; 
they apply it in their lives. It is more pow- 
erful than strife; it conquers where force 
would fail. Its wings shield the righteous. 
Under its protection, the harmless are not 
harmed. It affords a secure shelter from the 
heat of selfish struggle. It is a refuge for 
the defeated, a tent for the lost, and a tem- 
ple for the pure. 

[ 52] 



Jfrom Pa00ion to peace 

When peace is pra&ised, and possessed, 
and known, then sin and remorse, grasping 
and disappointment, craving and tempta- 
tion, desiring and grieving — all the turbu- 
lence and torment of the mind — are left 
behind in the dark sphere of self to which 
they belong, and beyond which they cannot 
go. Beyond where these darkspedres move, 
bask in Eternal Light the radiant Plains of 
Divine Beatitude, and to these the traveller 
on the High and Holy Way comes in due 
time. From the binding swamps of passion, 
through the thorny forests of many vani- 
ties, across the arid deserts of doubt and 
despair, he travels on, not turning back, 
nor staying his course, but ever moving 
toward his sublime destination, until at last 
he comes, a meek and lowly yet strong 
and radiant conqueror, to the 
Beautiful City of Peace. 



A 



jUN 17 WO 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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